Regarding Organic Maps: I would recommend keeping tabs on what is happening there since this year. They seem to be having significant governance issues.

https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/organic-maps-open-lett...

Short story: forget Organic Maps, use successor CoMaps or competitor OsmAnd.

https://www.comaps.app/about-us/

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neilv 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Thank you, that's interesting and a concern.

Do you have pointers to information about the governance and legitimacy of CoMaps?

(I see a mention that it's non-profit, but no statement about what kind of non-profit, not even on the donate page where that info is customary and relevant for US tax reasons. Also, I see no mention of who's who, nor how they operate.)

The closest I find is this:

https://www.comaps.app/support/what-is-the-comaps-history/

> As a result of the issues not being resolved, in April 2025, the community of former Organic Maps contributors created the CoMaps project, based on the Organic Maps open-source code.

If what that sounds like is true (that it does represent the community of contributors), it still will be important to have safeguards against someone taking over the project.

Or, if what that sounds like isn't true, that could be bad.

One matter that will have to be resolved with governance (if it hasn't already), is that there's what looks like an allegation that the CoMaps project is already tainted with code to which is expressly doesn't have license:

https://codeberg.org/comaps/comaps/pulls/1039#issuecomment-6...

A concern is that a funded commercial competitor could bankrupt a less-funded volunteer project with lawyer fees just arguing the merits of that.

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ihatehn 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Very astute! Legally the code is owned by each contributor and licensed via the DCO. Financially the project is underneath the umbrella of the Platform 6 co-op (see OpenCollective)

This is temporary though and a permanent nonprofit home is a top priority.

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Freak_NL 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Nope, all I know is what I picked up in the OpenStreetMap community, like that thread on the forums, and this open letter:

https://www.comaps.app/news/2025-04-16/1/

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opensourebuild 2 days ago | parent [-]

The claim about open-source is coming from the shareholder of Organic Maps, Alex, but there is no basis to it, as the code for that repository is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.

It appears Alex is angry about the fork and doing anything possible to spread negativity.

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biodranik 14 hours ago | parent [-]

The code used by the fork was never published. It was stolen from a private repository and a private server, and then published/used in the fork without the authors' approval. That's a serious legal issue.

The fork also took the new website design that was developed for Organic Maps even before the Organic Maps website was updated.

Don't believe everything on the internet; there are many lies spread around.

	▲	roundcast 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		So Organic Maps is not actually open-source?

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infinitesector7 a day ago | parent | prev [-]

[dead]

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rpdillon 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I was vaguely aware of this drama but hadn't looked into it. After reading through your link, I've switched over to Comaps. I don't like lack of transparency in community driven projects. Appreciate the flag!